


The Consequences of Mixing Up Birth Control and Benadryl

by Purple_Potato, thiefofblood0u0



Category: Heathers (1988), Heathers: The Musical - Murphy & O'Keefe
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-01
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2018-11-07 15:16:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 18,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11061687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_Potato/pseuds/Purple_Potato, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thiefofblood0u0/pseuds/thiefofblood0u0
Summary: After a bit of a mishap, Veronica has to learn to deal with her boyfriend's death, and her new kid. 14 years later, with Jade Sawyer, her daughter, in high school, she runs into a familiar face.(I really suck at summaries :/  )





	1. The Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is mostly exposition, bear with us! There will be more to come!

“You took the pill, right?” Veronica scoffed. “Duh, why wouldn’t I?! I’m not ready to have kids but I still want to fuck you until I either pass out or die. Whichever comes first.” He grinned, lust in his eyes. “You know I fucking love you, right?” His voice was mildly hoarse and he looked over her form with hunger shamelessly.

 

 

 

Veronica wiped at her mouth as she left the bathroom, having just before thrown up, odd, she didn’t feel sick… She supposed it could have been stress, what with the recent events, it was perfectly reasonable. In any case, it was probably time to take her birth control. She hadn’t been ‘active’ recently, but it kept hormones under control for the most part. Fumbling on the counter, she grabbed for the container. While she was looking, she realized there was one right next to it… Benadryl? Probably not a great idea to keep them so close together, really. A slip-up would be bad news in certain circumstances.  
She decided to call her boyfriend before thinking her actions through.  
JD reached for the phone, just wanting the god awful ringing to stop. “Yello?”  
“Hey, so uh, weird question, do you know if there’s some kind of stomach flu going around?”  
He paced around his room, running a hand through his hair. “No, the only thing that’s been goin around recently was a sore throat.” He paused in his tracks. “Why do you ask?”  
“Uh… Just kinda threw up a little… You know what, it’s probably nothing, don’t worry about it…” She had… a very bad feeling. Really, what were the chances… How could someone mix up birth control and Benadryl?  
“Ooook then…” He hovered near his desk, ready to go back to fooling around on his guitar. “Well anyways, talk to ya later?”  
“Yeah! Talk to ya later!” Fuck! It was becoming much more likely in her head… Fuck…  
“Love ya, babe.” He hung up, flopping backwards onto his bed, plucking a random tune on his bass. He decided to not dwell on the conversation too much, wouldn’t want to go into over protective boyfriend mode. He played some songs to quiet his thoughts, then turned in for bed. It couldn’t be anything too bad, could it?

“You, too!” Well, shit. It was entirely possible, unlikely for one to actually mix up the two pills, but it was kind of dark if she remembered correctly, and she was a little distracted at the time… She really didn’t like her odds here. She was a high school student, she wasn’t ready for kids! Okay, wow, chill… Not possible! Okay, she wasn’t getting anywhere by worrying herself to death, she’d just try to sleep on it… If she could sleep, anyway.

 

 

 

 

A few stray tears rolled down his cheeks. “Please stand back now.” He shut his eyes, the tears falling a little faster.  
She took a hesitant step back, a little shaky.  
He gazed through his tears, looking at her through glossy eyes. “Little further.” He clutched his side, the bullet wound oozing blood through his fingers. Fuck it hurts so bad! I hope she’ll make it better down here.  
She stepped back once again, a little longer this time as a few of her own tears started falling  
His tears fell quickly now, and reached up to swipe them away, leaving a trail of red tears in his wake. He heard the gentle click of the bomb as the last few seconds ticked down.  
“I love y-”  
The explosion was massive, although no one got hurt. Veronica had limped out to the football field, intending to create the smallest repercussions possible. After the explosion, she was sobbing and her body shook violently. She collapsed to the ground, not caring about the people starting to flood out of the gym. A hand gently rested on her shoulder.  
“Veronica...?! Y-you’re alive?” She gently wrapped her arms around the crying girl. Her body quaked and her heart hurt like it had been been burned and fell to ashes. He was gone… She couldn’t get the tears to stop falling. He was the only who cared… And now he’s gone.  
Veronica shrugged Heather’s arms off her. “Not anymore…”  
“You look like hell.” Heather Duke sneered, sauntering up to the scene.  
Veronica gave a weak smiled mixed with a slight smugness. “I just got back.”

 

 

3 months later the starts of a bump started to appear on her stomach. It sure wasn’t comfortable, and it was a constant reminder of what had happened, but she just couldn’t kill it! She started wearing baggy sweatshirts to conceal it. If Heather Duke found out she’d be dead. She had developed lots of migraines, and it made focusing on school work rather difficult, but she still kept her grades up… barely. Her 4.0 still stood strong despite everything that had been going on, which was quite impressive.

At that point, most people either hadn’t noticed her behavioral changes or didn’t care. Note the term ‘most.’ She was approached by Heather McNamara when they were alone one day. “Veronica… You’ve been acting a little weird lately, are you feeling alright?  
She turned sharply, which earned her a wave of pain from her headache. “I’m fine.” She lied, responding courtly.  
Heather frowned a little bit, but nodded anyway, knowing not to push too much. “Okay, but if you do have a problem, you can always talk to me or… Well, probably not Heather Duke, no offense to her, but you get what I mean.”  
Veronica had been really stressed recently, and at this point, her words were faster than her mind. “It’s just… there was this guy and I mixed up a few bottles and… You know what, just forget I said anything, it’s nothing really.” she said, burying her face in her hands.  
“That doesn’t really sound like nothing, but… It’s alright, you don’t have to say anything you don’t want to.” She gave a small smile, maybe a little unsure-looking, but she meant well.  
Veronica gave a weak smile, making a valiant effort to show her gratitude. “Thanks, Heather.”  
Heather was still really concerned, but the situation was diffused when Heather Duke bumped Heather Mac, pushing her into Veronica. She stumbled, tripping over her own feet, and fell to the ground. A gasp of shock could be heard from the two other girls, and she realized all too late that her sweatshirt had lifted a little bit, revealing her secret.  
“You’r-”  
“Shut up, Heather!” Duke snapped, causing Heather Mac to flinch.  
“Sorry, Heather…” Mac mumbled, then looked back to Veronica with worry all over her face. “Is that why…?”  
She looked away, feeling incredibly guilty and not wanting face her friend… and enemy. Veronica shuffled to her feet, pulling down her sweatshirt and attempted to walk away. She thought she was in the clear until a hand spun her around and backed her up against a locker, caging her with one arm.  
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” Heather Duke sneered.  
Heather Mac stepped forward tentatively. “Heather, come on…”  
Duke jolted around and slapped Heather harshly, leaving a red welt on her face. “Did I tell you you could speak, bitch?!”  
“No, I just… Maybe you shouldn’t be so aggressive with her…” Mac’s voice was quiet and a little shaky, but she was really trying to help however she could.  
Veronica had had enough with Heather Duke’s shit, and could not stand for her friend getting harassed by her. She grabbed Duke’s arm, twisting it behind her back causing an angry squawk in return from her.  
Heather Mac hesitated for a second, she knew Duke was being awful and probably needed a wake-up call of some kind, but if she encouraged it… Yeah, that would not be good. “Look, h-how about we just calm down...?”  
Heather Duke couldn’t just back down from a fight, and kicked Veronica in the stomach, definitely noticing the difference in size, and stormed off.  
Mac jumped and just about ran over to Veronica. “Oh my god, are you okay?” Her voice was frantic, and even though she knew it was Heather Duke who kicked her, but she couldn’t help but feel guilty herself for not actually doing anything.  
Her vision went blurry, pain taking over her senses and slid down the locker to the floor. “I-i-i-i d-d-don’t k-know.” Her voice was quivering and blood pounded in her ears.  
Mac really didn’t feel like she had much time to think, so her first thought was kind of her best bet for the time being. So, she crouched down, slung Veronica’s arm over her shoulders and started walking to somewhere that would have a phone. Lovely.  
Veronica was so dizzy from the pain that she couldn’t tell which direction was up anymore, so she let Heather McNamara guide her who knows where.  
Heather Mac looked around until she found an office, luckily empty and with a phone in it, sort of set Veronica on a chair unceremoniously, then dialed 911 to call an ambulance.  
\---  
He glared at the scene, his fists clenching in anger as he saw Heather Duke join the fray. After he saw her hurt Veronica, he wanted rip her guts out and leave her to die. He dug his fingernails into the wood of the door frame, leaving 10 crescent shaped marks. It took all of his self control, but he knew he couldn’t be seen. If he was caught, he’d be in a pretty rough situation. Even though Veronica was in a bad spot too, he didn’t want to mess up her life again. So he gathered all of his strength and fixed his trenchcoat, gritted his teeth, and turned away, fighting the urge to run and save her. I’m sorry Ronnie… So sorry...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade is really bad at school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FIGHT ME! Or should I say fight FOR me. ;3
> 
> Short chapter, sorry, just getting set up for actual plot (and other things)

“You’re late. Again.”  
“Yeah… And?”  
“3 days of detention!”  
She glanced at the principal with a bored look on her face. “How about no?”  
“How about GO TO CLASS.”  
She faked pondering for a second, before grinning and cheerily replying, “Nah, I’m good.”  
The principal rubbed his temples briefly. “And so your point of showing up was…?”  
She shrugged, and started to walk off. “I dunno, Mom would kill me if she found out I was at home.”  
The Principal made a short humming sound. “Oh, so do you think her response might be similar to getting a call home from the school?”  
Jade gave a small smirk. “Well I am at school. She said to go to school, not to class.” She gave a salute and walked away, leaving a fuming principal behind her.  
To avoid drawing attention or losing his job for actually screaming at a student, the principal turned around and went to his office.  
Jade put on her headphones, turning on her music and jumping up the stairs and and practically sliding down the hallway. She slid into her classroom, jumped over a desk, and threw a really cool paper airplane.  
“Yo teach! Incoming!”  
Mr. Dean didn’t move much, just reached his arm up and caught the paper creation blind. The class was speechless, stunned by their teacher’s epicness. He opened his eyes and unfolded the plane. “Ay, Jade!”  
Jade, who was jamming out on her desk with two pencils in the back, was completely unaware of her teacher’s attempt to get her attention. Dean crumpled up a random piece of paper from his desk and threw it at Jade, hitting her in the forehead.  
Jade looked up and took off her headset. “Sup.”  
He grinned, leaning back in his swivel chair. “Nice job getting your homework in. I don’t think I’ve actually seen you get it in before, congrats!” He ruffled Jade’s hair, earning him a proud smile from the freshman.  
“Thanks teach!” She responded, settling her headphones around her neck.  
The phone in his office started ringing, and he threw the paper ball at it, causing the noise to stop. Seconds later though, it restarted, forcing JD to get up and answer the phone.  
“You have a conference with Jade Sawyer and her mother later today.”  
“But I was gonna-”  
The principal cut him off. “Not anymore.” JD heard the dial tone, and pinched the bridge of his nose. God damn it.  
“Sooo, what was that?” Jade asked with half interest.  
“Looks like the principal decided you, your mom, and I are gonna have a little chat. His decision, not mine.”  
“Eh, makes sense, I may or may not have said some less than respectful things earlier.”  
He raised an eyebrow, now curious about what she could’ve said to make him so mad.  
“Well, in summary, he told me I had 3 days of detention for being late, I declined, he told me to go to class, I said no, he threatened to call mom and here we are.”  
He didn’t say anything, just walked over to her and raised his hand.  
Jade grinned and slapped his hand. “Ayyy.”  
JD smirked, nodding and decided that he should probably teach the class… At least for a little bit. He taught for roughly 20 to 30 minutes, then let them do whatever they wanted for the rest of class as he retreated to his office.


	3. Introductions of Parent and Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The parent-teacher conference ends a little differently than expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May or may not add the actual smut later in a new chapter. The one of us who can write smut has had no inspiration.

Jade spun around in a chair in Mr. Dean’s office, apparently he had decided to take a short break, so they were waiting for him to come back. Her mom sat next to her, and was fiddling with the hem of her shirt. She looked like a mixture of nervousness and frustration. Jade shrugged it off, not really caring. Even though she loves her mom to death, she just can’t let her mom’s emotions get to her. So, she just kept spinning at practically light speed.  
Mr. Dean pushed the door open, glancing up from a paper. “Jade, slow down there- wait… Veronica?!”   
Jade fell off of her chair, the g forces finally catching up to her, but Veronica couldn’t seem to notice. JD, who had been dead for 14 years, was now standing in front of her.   
Jade shook herself off, then looked between her mom and teacher. “You guys know each other or something?”  
Veronica didn’t turn to look at her daughter, just stared in disbelief. “Yes, Jade, I do know him… Jade, I’d like to introduce you to your father.”  
JD’s face was a mixture of a lot of things, disbelief, joy and surprise, just to name a few. “Wait. She’s my…?”   
Veronica continued staring at him, though her expression changed from one of disbelief to… a mix of anger, exasperation, and… something else Jade couldn’t place.  
Veronica quietly walked over to JD, his eyes tracking her movements. She delicately reached up and slapped him as hard as she could muster.  
JD winced a little and brought his hand up to his face. “...Yeah, I probably deserved that.”   
Veronica just barely held her tongue, afraid she might say something she’d regret. “Yeah, I’d say that, alright.” Her head was all over the place, her thoughts racing, and none of them focused on Jade.  
Jade was half in shock and half… Happy? Yep, happy’s right. Her favorite teacher was actually her parent. Fucking weird, yes, but ya know, she’d take what she could get.   
JD broke the steely glare of Veronica’s to turn to look at …. His daughter? That’s gonna take awhile to get used to… “Jade, would you mind steppin out for a minute? I gotta talk with Ms. Sawyer first.”  
“Pff, probably gonna be longer than a minute.“  
Jade raised an eyebrow at her mother’s comment, which she just barely caught. “Yeah… I’m gonna go. See ya.” With that, she left, probably for home or god knows where else.   
As the door clicked shut and Jade’s silhouette left the frosted glass, the tension levels jumped a few notches, the small room suddenly feeling even smaller.  
A few moments of uncertainty passed until JD spoke up, casually leaning against his desk as if he wasn’t fazed at all by the fact that he now has a daughter.  
“I see time has smiled on you kindly.” JD purred, his trademark smirk plastered on his face.  
Veronica did not have the patience for his remarks, and stormed up to him, forcing him against the wall. “How are you alive?” Her steely gaze forced his attention onto her.  
He gave a sly grin as he took a step, causing Veronica to take one back as well. “Well, I could ask the same about yo-our kid, how did that happen?” He took a few casual steps towards her.  
Veronica scrambled to speak, but she wasn’t fast enough as she found herself backed up against a wall next to a window. He saw her panic for a second and found himself completely content with watching her squirm. He eventually decided to cut her some slack so he leaned in, put a finger to her lips and made a shushing sound.   
“Shhh, no more talking. We’ll have plenty of time for that later. For now…” His gaze travelled over her body, his hands gliding along her sides to rest on her hips. “How about we do something about those pretty clothes of yours?”  
“Well…” Veronica was at a bit of a loss for words. She couldn’t deny that she was a little… Repressed. It had, after all, been 14 years since she saw him last, but that was also 14 years of dealing with the fact that she thought he blew himself up. So yeah, maybe not the easiest thing in the world. Ah, to hell with it. “That could be something I can work with… As long as I’m not the only one.”  
He gave a wide grin, his eyes flashing with darkness and desire before returning to their natural state. He walked over to his desk, fished around in a drawer for a while before throwing a deck of cards on the top. “You up for a little game?” He challenged, smirking.  
Veronica, regaining a little of her confidence, managed a grin in return. “Now, when have I ever been one to turn down a little friendly competition?”  
He gave huff, which was pretty close to a laugh before muttering, “A little more than friendly most of the time.” He dealt out the cards, preparing for quite an interesting game of cards.

One “interesting” game of cards later, JD is had lost his trenchcoat, shirt, shoes, socks, and belt. Veronica, on the other hand, was down to her underwear, no, not including a bra.   
JD had played poker since he was 5, and had always loved the game. In the beginning he was trying to take easy it on her, which had still resulted in a growing mass of Veronica’s clothes on his floor. At this point, JD wasn’t taking it easy on her anymore, he was just plain distracted.  
Veronica was just a liiiittle more focused on the actual game than he was, and noticed right away that she lost. “Well, shit.” She didn’t actually sound genuinely upset, not at her own state anyway, but she was a little annoyed at losing.  
“Checkmate.” he smirked as he stood up, casually walking over to her and resting his arms on the back of her chair. “So, Ms. Sawyer,” he purred, ‘accidentally’ grabbing her breasts as he talked. “Need any help with with your remaining clothes?”  
“Well, now that you mention it, that actually might be something I need help with…” She moved her hands up his arms, not making any move to change the… Placement of his hands.  
The same glint from earlier gleamed in his eyes as he moved, swinging his legs over so he was in front of her, and he surged down to kiss her. The kiss wasn’t fueled by sweet reunion, but by fire and determination stored up from the years gone by.   
Veronica gladly returned the kiss, her hands running up into his hair and tugged at it a little. Well, some habits are hard to break!  
He groaned against her mouth, leaning into her, drawing her even closer. She was soft and warm, and he kept at it, rewarding her efforts with little noises and movements, be them faint or small.  
His responses fueled her action, emotions stewing and overtaking her as she let her body be her guide.   
When Veronica pulled him down, forcing him onto his knees, he couldn’t even protest because his entire mind was clouded with lust. When she kissed him behind the ear softly, her warm breath tickling the side of his neck, it took all the self control he could muster to stop himself from pouncing liking a starving lion on a meal. He was sure glad he hadn’t eaten dinner, and damn he was hungry.  
As much as having Veronica in control turned him on, he stopped her, leaning his forehead to hers. “Sorry to stop you, darling, but you lost. It’s my turn now.”   
Well. That was certainly new. Veronica wasn’t at all opposed to the idea, though, it seemed interesting to say the least. “Well, fair’s fair, you did win… So, you gonna take your prize or what?” Her words sounded almost challenging in tone, egging him on.  
And with those few syllables, he lost all of his self control. With teasing fingers, his hands crawled up her thighs, landing at her hips and snapped the waistband of her underwear. “It’s been 14 long years, and I can not wait taste your sweetness again.”  
Just the memory of 14 some-odd years before was enough to give Veronica shivers. “By all means.” This time sounding almost like a purr.  
He peers up at her, a part curious part responsible expression scrawled on his face. “You’re on the pill, right?” he asked, wanting to make sure Jade wouldn’t have a sibling any time soon.  
Veronica nodded quickly. “Yeah, and actually this time.” She mumbled the last part of her sentence, “I’ve learned to keep the Benadryl and birth control away from each other.”   
With all of the formalities out of the way and the all clear from Veronica, he set to his work, barely wasting a moment, as if he feared that she’d disappear like she did before. As he worked on her underwear, he planted long kisses on her thighs, taking his time to put care into each one. Over 14 years, he had finally figured out how valuable life was, especially hers.   
Gently, Veronica ran her fingers through his hair approvingly, her movements were soft, wanting, sure, but wanting to just revel in finally being with him again.  
He managed to pull her final piece of clothing off and down her legs, tossing them off to the side of the room with her other clothes. He sucked in a breath, taking in the beautiful sight. He stood back up, towering over her at his height of 6’3”. He put his hands on the armrests of the chair, trapping her between him and the chair.   
Veronica gave a small grin, her eyes turned upward with flushed cheeks as she let her arms trail up to the back of his neck, where she let them hang. She had learned already that JD was an absolute tease, but after all that time, she really wasn’t sure how long he could keep it up… Hell, she wasn’t even sure which she liked better.   
With a few sharp tugs and a kick or two, JD was on even score with the amount of clothing they were wearing. With the playing field even, he grinned. “You know, people always say it’s bad to play with your food, but when have I ever been good?” he murmured, his intentions quite clear.


	4. Confused Conversations of Reunited Lovers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for the support, it really means a lot to us! Sorry for late upload, thanks for bein patient! Also, sorry for mildly short chapters, it helped to differentiate new parts of the plot.

Veronica took a breath, sitting back on the couch that JD had in his office for some reason she’d ask about later, now was the time for something a little more important. Was the mood right? Probably not. Was she gonna get answers? Yeah. “So uh… how are you… Ya know, alive?”   
He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, unsure what to say. “Well… in short, when I hit the bomb to restart it, it messed up a few wires, and the explosives closest to me didn’t go off. So I crawled behind a tree and called 911. At the ER, they did a quick psych check cause I wasn’t on file and after I was stable, they sent me to the mental hospital.” He crossed the room, grabbing his trench coat on the way, and offered it to her since she was shivering slightly.  
Veronica nodded and took the coat, putting it over her shoulders as she listened. “Yeah, I was… In one of those hospitals for a little while…” She trailed off a little bit, not entirely sure if she wanted to go into the details, deciding she would, but only if she was asked.   
His eyes widened in shock, concern in his eyes. “Did y-you… Are you… What happened?” He looked terrified, and knelt on the floor, placing his hand on her knee.  
She put a hand on his shoulder, trying to be reassuring. “I-I’m better now, I swear! But um… A little after what happened, everything was… I tried to… Stop things. So then Heather Mac found and stopped me and then I got sent there… Really, though, don’t worry, I’m okay now, it was just bad at the time.”  
He looked up at her with remorse, sorry that his actions caused that much pain. He ran his hands down the sides of her arms, holding her hands and squeezing tightly. He looked up at her with misty eyes, concern evident. “But it’s not okay! Because of everything that I did, you were at the point that you wanted to kill yourself! I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” He wiped at his eyes, tears threatening to fall with all of the repressed emotion from the years.  
Veronica moved one hand to his cheek, moving her thumb a little. “It’s not… It wasn’t only that, but there was just so much… Happening… I wish I could’ve found you before.” She knew it probably did… Contribute, but she didn’t want JD to blame himself for what happened, it wasn’t all him, and she was almost entirely sure he wasn’t completely… Himself at the time.   
What else was going on during that time? What could have the problem been? He knew that she’d be receiving acceptance letters from all over the country, so college was out of the question. Her parents normally stayed out of her way from what Veronica had told him, so it wasn’t home. She wasn’t being bullied, she was a part of the Heathers for god’s sake! From all that he’d been told, her life was completely normal before he walked into it. If he had just stayed out of it, she’d be off as a lawyer, or maybe even the first female president. Who knows where he’d be, he probably would’ve booked it as soon as he was legally allowed to. Veronica Sawyer, the beautiful, smart, cunning girl would have been off at college instead of a mental hospital.   
He shuddered, shutting his eyes tightly as if willing for the thoughts to go away. “But you were normal before… me…” He gestured vaguely to himself, his gaze on the floor, wall, the door: anything that wasn’t her.   
She held his face between her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes, even though her touch was soft. She kissed him gently, and when she knew she had his attention, she spoke. “Who cares that I was normal?! Normal is boring! And I loved you, and never stopped loving you.” Tears threatened to prick at her eyes, which she hoped that JD didn’t notice.  
He went to speak, but was cut off by a soft kiss once again. At that point, it was clear to him that the thought was going to be dropped, one way or another. He allowed the kiss to guide itself, the moment tender and compassionate, gentle.   
He glanced at the clock and chuckled, realizing how much time had passed. The time was 7:54, nearly three hours since the meeting should have ended. Frankly, he didn’t care much, but he understood that Veronica might, considering the fact that Jade getting into who knows how much trouble. He cleared his throat before speaking. “We should probably head home, Jade’s probably waiting for you to either feed her or catch her getting into shit.” he murmured.  
Veronica scoffed a little. “Probably both, that is, if she’s home. Either way, it’s probably a good idea, I’m a little bit tired myself, I’m sure you are too.” She knew Jade was smart, but she could end up in some pretty… Interesting places. Anyhow, she did have some pretty obvious reasons for being both physically and mentally tired, so it was probably best to try and get some rest.  
He nodded, suddenly realizing the strain on his body from earlier, which prompted him to start to close up shop. He gathered their clothes, handing Veronica hers and donning his, and soon after exited the room and locked the door. Wouldn’t want to get caught by his boss after school hours, that would be a hell of a time to try to explain.  
He gave a bow, looking up at Veronica. “And with that, I bid you adieu,” he kissed her hand quickly, “mon cheri.” He turned, and began the long trek home to his apartment.  
Once she was dressed and out, she smiled and waved a little, turning quickly in a little attempt to hide the slight blush and wide grin on her face… Somehow she felt like she used to when they were younger, it was nice though! She did really need to go rest and find Jade… That was going to be quite the conversation.


	5. The Escape Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade has a little... Outing!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh! We're so sorry for the late chapter, we're still adjusting to schedules and such, but we'll try to stay on top of it! That said, have a chapter!

Jade walked up to her front door, fishing around for her keys with a slushie in her other hand. She managed to get them out and unlock her door without too much of a hassle, and walked into the house. She kicked off her shoes at the door, her mom was a real stickler about that, and flopped onto the couch. She realized all too late, that her mother was already home.  
Veronica raised an eyebrow as she walked into the living room just in time to see her daughter almost jump on the couch. “So nice of you to join me at… 9:30 when you left the school around 5 hours ago. So, to the point, where were you and- do I smell smoke!?”   
“No,” Jade replied cooly, lying straight to her face. “I was at Athena’s house until I just came home, we were watching the Princess Bride… at least until I changed it to Nightmare Before Christmas.” Jade often lied, which was probably for the best, considering her kleptomania. If her mom found out she would flip, and she’d be grounded for months if she found out how much licorice she had…. ‘borrowed’.  
“Oh were you now? Well I haven’t talked to her mother lately, anyway! I might as well call her!” Her voice was just a little sarcastic in tone. If her daughter was telling the truth, great! She could have a nice conversation with Martha. If not, which was likely, she’d find out about it. She could ask about the smoke that she most definitely smelled later, but one thing at a time would work just fine.   
Fear gleamed in Jade’s widening in her eyes as she scrambled to come up with a plan. If I cut down the telephone pole, she can’t call! But…. I don’t have enough time, and I don’t own a chainsaw… But I coooould unplug the phone.   
Jade jumped off the couch and and dashed into the kitchen, unplugging the phone as quickly as she could. “Oops, sorry Mom, can’t do that now youshouldheadupstairsnowokbyeloveya!” Jade ushered her mother away from the kitchen and unusable phone, hoping her plan to divert her would work.  
Veronica sighed a little bit and gave Jade a look that said ‘Are you kidding me right now?’ As she pulled a cell phone out of her pocket. “If you’re that set on it, I guess I can talk to her upstairs.” At that point, she was almost entirely sure that she was lying, but nevertheless, she called Martha, pacing back and forth as she waited for someone to pick up.  
She heard the click of the phone as her childhood best friend picked up.  
“Hey Ronnie! How are you?”  
“Hey! I’m doing alright, I actually had a question for you.”  
She heard Martha set down a few dishes, noticeable because of the clanking noises from the other end of the line. Meanwhile, behind her, Jade’s mounting dread was rolling off in waves of fear.  
“Ok, what’s goin on?”  
“It’s really quick, I was just wondering- Was Jade at your house earlier today?”  
“No, she wasn’t. Is something wrong?”  
Jade decided this was the moment to leave, and attempted to quietly sneak up the stairs.  
“Well, it’s just that Jade got home a little late and she said she was watching movies with Athena-” Veronica covered the microphone. “Jade, get back down here!”  
No response was yelled to the downstairs of the Sawyer household, but if you listened really closely, the light thud of a 14 year old girl jumping out of a window could be heard as Jade absconded from the home.  
With a very slight twitch of the eye, Veronica uncovered the microphone. “I’m gonna have to call you back.”  
“Hope everything works out okay!”  
But when Veronica looked out of the front door, Jade was nowhere to be seen.  
With an exasperated sigh, she hung up the phone. “Time to start looking, then.” She muttered, getting outside and to her car as quickly as she could. Well, she knew at least one place Jade frequented, so that would be her first stop.   
Minutes later, she was driving up to the 7/11. Luckily, at different points, they went often enough for the staff to kind of be used to them, so they would be less surprised when she unceremoniously pushed open the doors and immediately asked. “Hey, has Jade been here?”  
The cashier shrugged, barely looking up from his magazine.   
A voice from the back of the shop piped up. “Wait, what?!”  
“Jade Sawyer? Do you know he- Wait, JD!?” It took a couple seconds, but then she realized why the voice sounded familiar.  
A confused, black haired teacher stepped out from his hiding place near the slushie machine. “Veronica? What’s going on?!”  
“Well ya see, Jade got home late, I asked where she was, she said Martha’s daughter’s house, I called Martha, and she left out the window. That’s the simplest version.” Veronica explained quickly, but something in her tone didn’t exactly sound surprised.  
JD chuckled at the girl’s antics. “Ya know, I’m honestly not sure whether to be surprised, impressed, or proud.”  
“I usually stick with all three.” She replied with a small grin. “I know she’s smart and she’ll be fine, I’d just rather her be at home.”   
He ran a hand through his hair, setting down his slushie cup on the cashier’s counter. He turned to face Veronica, giving her his full attention. “She’s a smart kid, and she knows how to take care of herself. She’ll come back in the morning, and if she’s not, then you start to worry.” He knew it wasn’t a good answer, but he had always resolved to tell the ugly truth over a beautiful lie.  
She sighed a little. “I know, I just get worried over nothing. She’s probably at a friend’s house or something…” She was admittedly kind of just reasoning with herself out loud, but it worked so either way. She didn’t really have anything to worry about, but she was going to do it anyway!  
He gave her a quick on the lips after paying the cashier, saluting as he threw away his finished cup and exited the store. “Best of luck with Jade!” He called as he sat on his motorcycle, ready to drive away.  
Veronica was about to wave to him when she remembered something and half jogged out after him, shaking off some memories she associated with seeing the motorcycle. “Wait a second! Uh, kind of a weird question, could I maybe get your phone number?”  
He had mildly zoned out, getting lost in thought before snapping into reality. He quickly scribbled onto a notepad he had in his trench coat pocket, before ripping out the page and handing it to her. He saluted again before riding off, fearful that if he stayed any longer he’d get lost in her eyes again.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short exposition about Veronica's nightmares and moral compass.

Veronica woke up with a start, waking up from another nightmare. Not only had she been having dreadful insomnia, but the nightmares that followed made peaceful sleep a distant memories. All of her dreams were full of explosions and blood, pep rallies and suicide notes. It was horrifying. It didn’t help that the one who caused her nightmares slept at her side. He looked so peaceful, despite the monster he was. How could she have missed such a toxic infatuation? She turned to the other side, facing the wall not wanting to look at the monster in next to her. She had only hoped he changed. He killed three people, and tried to kill hundreds more, why did she still love him?


	7. The Definitely Not The Escape Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PSsSh - This? The escape plan? Neeeeeeeeveeeeeeeer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE ARE SO SORRY FOR ALL THE LATE UPLOADS! We occasionally are just sitting there, and one of suddenly says "We forgot to update again!" "FUCK!"

Moonlight spilled in through the window, the lock closed but the blinds open. The bay window’s door swung open, a lithe form jumping out of the tree and crashing onto the floor. Simon woke up at the noise, more confused than angry. “Hello?” When his vision cleared from the hazy fog of sleep, he noticed the opened window, sparking quite the confusion. “Seriously, who’s there?” he called into the darkness of his room, the beam of milky light illuminating a patch on his bed.   
A voice came up from the floor, a little muffled. “It’s Jade.” She flipped over and sat up, looking over to the bed as she propped herself up on her arms. “Sup.” Her tone was actually pretty casual for someone who had just run 3 blocks, climbed a tree and jumped into a window!  
Simon relaxed, it was just his girlfriend, as crazy and fascinating as she is. He checked his clock. “Jade, it’s like… 10, you’re never here this early.” He gave a mildly concerned look, which on his stoic face, was nothing more than a few crinkles at the corners of his eyes or a worried glint to his chocolate orbs.  
“Well, I was about to get caught by my mom staying out too late, so I did the logical thing and snuck out! Well, maybe sneak isn’t the best word for it...” Jade said with a small grin that went down just a little as she continued speaking. So yeah, once she actually thought it through, maybe it wasn’t the best solution to the problem at hand, but not much else she did lately was, so whatever!   
He did a quick spot check, checking her pulse and looking at her eyes, to make sure she wasn’t on any drugs or was drunk off of her ass. Thankfully, she wasn’t, which was both a good and bad sign, but it was a start. He sighed, giving her a small smile and chuckling softly. “Good god, what am I going to do with you Jade.” he said, smiling as he wrapped his arms around her. He picked her up and set her on the bed, the patch of moonlight perfectly lighting her face. She looked stunning, and he knew that she turned him into a mad man in more ways than one. “As always, you can stay with me, in fact, I like it when you’re here. We can cross those bridges tomorrow, ‘kay?”   
The sleep in Simon’s eyes was evident, he had been up late the night before editing a video for the film festival.  
“Thaaaank youuuuuu, you’re the best, you know that?” She laughed a little bit, draping her arms over his shoulders and letting her hands lay behind his neck. She ruffled his hair a little bit in the back before nodding. “Yeah, sounds like a good idea to me… Sleep sounds good too. Sorry for waking you up, by the way…” Her apology was maybe a little bit half-hearted, since she was definitely glad to be there with him, but she wasn’t happy about interrupting his sleep, she knew he over-worked himself a little sometimes, so sleep wasn’t something he should be missing a lot of.  
He smiled. He stared at her twinkling in her eyes, and his heart started melting. He sat next to her on the bed, leaning against the headboard, hoping sleep would come easily. He felt two arms wrap around his waist, gently pulling him closer. Simon relaxed, his saving grace was here. Simon had always had trouble sleep, ever since he was 9. Jade’s warm body against his always seemed to soothe him and his anxieties. He was her protector, guarding her sanity through the chaos of her life, and she helped to quiet his constantly buzzing mind.  
He heard her breathing settle as she drifted into sleep, which comforted him. He always hated seeing Jade frantic; Jade was a hard-shelled and and strong headed girl who didn’t take no shit from no one. It scared him when she faltered, he cared for her so damn much.

 

Hours passed, and when the sun made its way right to the spot in between the blinds at an angle where it shined directly on Jade’s eyes, and she woke up. It only took a second for her to realize where she was, after all, it was far from the first time she’d stayed the night there, but other than a couple slight neck movements, she tried not to wake Simon up. She couldn’t really tell what time it was exactly, but frankly she didn’t much care at that point. Ah, the beauty of Saturdays. She could just be still for a little while and maybe try to put the thought of what her mother would do when she got back… Yeah, just ignoring that for the time being sounded pretty good!  
Simon groggily opened his eyes, subconsciously moving an arm to block the morning sun. Through blurry vision, he managed to figure out who the figure next to him was. He sat up, rubbing his sore eyes and stretching. “Good morning, princess.” he murmured, kissing her nose.  
Jade smiled and stretched her arms a little bit with a quiet giggle. “Mornin’. You sleep alright?” She asked as she moved to rest her head against his, genuinely wondering since she knew that she may or may not have interrupted him in the middle of the night before.  
He shrugged, a silent yawn escaping his mouth soon after. He paused. Welp, Jade can’t hide here forever, but her Mom would throw a hissy fit if we don’t play our cards right…. He leaned back on his hand, running his other hand through his hair. “So what are we gonna do about your mom...?”  
“Well, seeing as getting a new identity and shipping off to some foreign country seems a little difficult on such short notice, I could just show up at home and see what happens, I guess.” Ah, yes, the most classic plan… Having little to no plan at all.  
Simon’s head ran wild with worry, but he ignored it, planting a kiss on her forehead. “Good luck… you’ll probably need it….” He knew that she was going to get into a fuckton of trouble, but it was the only option they had.

 

Jade tried to slink through her bedroom window as quietly as possible, she wasn’t sure if she would survive if she got caught. Just as she thought she was home free, her shoe got caught in the tree outside her window, and she fell into her room, loudly alerting the household of her presence.  
Mere seconds later, Veronica was in Jade’s room with an eyebrow raised and a hand on her hip. Her stance said annoyed, but her eyes said pissed. “Wonderful to see you, but, mind telling me where you were all night?” The part about her daughter being gone all night wasn’t even an assumption, as Veronica didn’t slept very well and ditched the idea of trying anymore after a little while. She was happy Jade was okay, of course, but clearly not that she left in the first place.  
She attempted to look casual while on her side on her light turquoise carpet while a myriad of empty slurpee cups surrounded her on the floor. She gave a determined expression, mixed with of threats and accusations, and stared her mother down. “Well where were you and Mr. Dean last night, hmmm?” She was pretty sure her facade was breaking, threatening to show the smug cat face hidden beneath.   
“Here. Waiting for you.” Veronica deadpanned, not even denying the fact that JD had been there… Was he even still at the house? She supposed she’d find out later. If there was one thing she had gotten very, very good at while in law school, it was usually winning arguments, among other things, of course, but that was part of it.   
Jade felt the colour drain from her face. She panicked, and her subconscious took over. Jade, who was still missing her shoe from getting stuck in the tree, made a run for the window, trying to scramble out, but to no avail as the surface was too slippery for her shoe barren foot.  
“Wha- Not today!” Veronica said, getting louder at the end and pretty much ran across the room to stop her from leaving through the window again. She had to wonder how Jade had gotten so good at jumping out windows, as far as she knew she hadn’t done it before- god fucking damn it, Jade.  
He was sitting at the bar counter of the kitchen, staring out the window sipping his coffee. He frowned into his cup, not as good as a slushie, but it’ll do. He looked up and then choked on his coffee - Jade was hanging upside down in the window, arms dangling below her.   
“Hey Mr. Dean.” She said awkwardly.  
“Jade?!” He ran outside to find the rambunctious girl hanging from her feet from her window with Veronica just barely holding onto her.  
A slightly panicked voice from inside the window managed a yell of “A little help here??” Noise complaints be damned, she really was not interested in Jade falling. She had an okay grip, but she wasn’t entirely sure how well she could pull her daughter back inside.  
JD ran over to underneath the window. “Veronica, I need you to let go!!!” He yelled up at her, 100% certain in his words. He couldn’t think of any other way to get Jade down, cause as soon as she hit the ground he knew she was gonna make a break for it.  
“What!? Why!?” Veronica’s parental instincts were essentially going crazy. She was being asked to drop her daughter out of a two-story window, and while she wasn’t the happiest with Jade at the moment, she still had no intentions of letting her get hurt or worse!  
He looked Veronica straight in the eyes, his expression saying it all. “Do you trust me?”  
All she could really answer was “Probably!?” Because while, admittedly, part of her said definitely not, but she also knew that JD most likely wouldn’t want Jade hurt either. Shit.  
He remained eye contact as he spoke. “Count of three. One…. Two…. - Three”  
“Fuck it.” Veronica mumbled, deciding at that moment to trust him because she really didn’t have any better options. It honestly took all of her strength to make herself let go of Jade’s legs, but she did it.   
Seconds later, as she dared to open her eyes, she saw JD holding a very frantic Jade in his arms, princess style. Jade wasn’t even freaked out by the fact that she just fell out of a window, she was more scared of her mom than heights… Jade struggled in his gripping, trying to do anything to get free and head for the hills. “Let me go god damn it!!!”  
The second she saw that Jade was unharmed, Veronica bolted down the stair, making her way to the door.  
JD turned to look at Veronica, smiling as he spoke. “Told ya.” He said smugly, paying no attention to the struggling Jade.  
Jade gave up in her struggle, crossing her arms angrily.  
Veronica pinched the bridge of her nose, then sighed. “Well, she’s not dead.” She stepped forward. “Look, I’m not gonna kill you for staying out! I’m mad, but seriously, chill!”  
Jade refused to make eye contact with her mother, afraid of what she might see. “Ok ok, I fucked up, how long am I grounded?” She asked, straight faced while imitating Veronica with her hand. “Not that you could keep me in the house, but whatever.”  
Veronica sighed in exasperation. “God, Jade, I don’t know, I’ll figure that out later but you’re not getting off scot-free. Also that,” She pointed toward Jade’s hand. “Is not helping your case.” She hadn’t really had to punish Jade too harshly before, her daughter hadn’t done anything too horrible before- not that she knew of, anyway, but she was considering window locks… Though with her experience, they weren’t very hard to break… She’d figure it out.  
The immediate urge to run flooded Jade’s sensed, and she squirmed in JD’s arms. The grip around her tightened, which caused an even stronger reaction. She sulked, trying to disappear. She was internally screaming as she realized she had no escape. “Welllll sooooooorry for being a rebellious teenager. I had to get it from somewhere.” She glared at Veronica, ice in her retort. “And why do I even exist anyways?! According to my math, you were seven-fucking-teen when you had me!”  
Veronica opened her mouth to speak, then immediately closed it, her hands shaking a little. Her eyes showed a mix of emotions, but at the time not one of them was positive. “That’s… That’s enough.” She mumbled, then turned and went back inside without saying anything else.  
Jade’s eyes widen with fear, as her mother left. Her father set her down, his face blank and angry, and he followed after Veronica in silence.  
It was then that Jade knew that she had fucked up. Big time.  
She didn’t know what to do, she had made a huge mistake. Guilt hit her like a train, and she sulked off, vowing to stay away from home as long as she could bear.

 

“Not someone I was expecting to see around here. Jade, yeah?”   
Jade shot up straight. “Wh-who’s there?!”  
Stepping into Jade’s field of vision almost from out of nowhere was a certain blonde who quite literally hadn’t aged a day. “Heather Chandler, lovely to make your acquaintance.” She was kind of serious, but some little part of her voice leaked just a bit of condescending sarcasm.   
Jade fell of the headstone, dropping her cigarette. Her hand fell onto the lit end and she cursed. “Fuck! Ow! God damn it!!” She jumped up, and quickly stomped out the cigarette. She paused, nursing her burned hand. “...Heather….? I feel like Mom’s talked about you….”  
“Woah there, ease up a little.” Heather didn’t do much but watch and quirk an eyebrow. She felt a little bit bad, sure, but it was just a burn, worse things could happen to the kid, so she moved on. “She’s probably talked about at least one of us before, I should hope I’d come up at least once.”  
She looked confused, and cocked her head to the side. “One of…. Us...?” What had happened? Why did this 17 year old ghost have a connection with her mom? And there were more of them?  
“Heathers, there were three of us that year. Guess technically there are two now, but I can’t imagine Veronica still talking to one of them.” She shrugged as she answered, trying to have a little detail, but not get into too many confusing names.  
Jade shook her head and rubbed her temples. “I must be hallucinating, you can’t be real! ….Right…?” Ghosts aren’t real! They can’t be! Then what the fuck is going on? Without thinking, Jade spat out, “How did you die?!” before covering her mouth in shock.  
“I’m definitely real, believe me on that one.” Heather said, draping her legs together on another headstone with just a slight hover. “Well, guess there’s no point in lying about it. A certain someone Sawyer gave me a lovely drain cleaner hangover cure. I guess it got rid of the headache, but there were a couple drawbacks.”   
Jade’s were like saucers as she stumbled backwards. “My mom… killed you?!?!” The walls around her mind started crumbling. Her mom… was a murderer?!  
Heather thought about mentioning that she wasn’t the only one, but maybe it would be best to give the girl a little processing time, she wasn’t a complete sadist. “To be fair, it wasn’t entirely her idea, if that helps at all.”  
This was a little much for the 14 year old to handle. Within three days, she found out her teacher was her dad, got caught smoking, and found out her mom was a murderer. Can you blame her for being a little overwhelmed?  
“...W-well who’s idea was it?” She asked a little sheepishly, wringing her hands.  
Heather waved her hand in a nonchalant manner. “Some kid in a trenchcoat. Last I heard, he was assumed dead after trying to blow up a school. I wanna say… Jason? That sounds about right.” So yeah, there was a bit of a contrast between her words, kind of horrifying, and her tone, entirely casual.  
Sudden realization hit. Her mom, and her new found dad who had been presumed dead, had killed this chick. Killed. She shuddered at the word. “My teacher killed you?!” She managed to squeak out, shock coursing through her veins.  
“Sorry, your teacher? Normally I’d put the pieces together by now, but that guy’s been dead for years, he kind of exploded. Literally.” Heather crossed her arms across her chest, a mixture of confusion and interest on her face.  
Jade shuffled slightly, scared of the ghost’s response. “A few days ago, at a parent teacher conference, I found out he was my dad… and Mom seemed very surprised to see him. Not to mention as I was leaving, I heard her say something along the lines ‘How are you alive?’.”  
“Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw, that sounds like an absolute mess!” As she spoke, a little smirk played on Heather’s lips, chuckling a little. So sure, it was a tiny bit insensitive to laugh about, but at that point she didn’t much care. Yes, they were fine lovely people, but really, the situation was a shit show.  
Jade wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue. This ghost was a bitch! One could even call her mythical for her levels of bitchiness! Jade leaned against a nearby tree and lit another cigarette. “Care for a…” she said before trailing off. Ghosts can’t smoke cigarettes. Ghosts can’t smoke cigarettes. What the fuck!?  
“I would, but I’m not really able. Thanks for the offer though, I guess.” Heather was still kind of revelling in the situation. She didn’t hate Veronica, JD, or even this kid, she didn’t want them dead or anything, but she couldn’t help but find it at least a little entertaining… Ah, well.  
Jade flopped down, putting her head in her hands. “I really fucked up….” she mumbled, shutting her eyes. She didn’t know what to do! She couldn’t go home, not for a couple days. Simon would get worried if she was over too many days in a row and she had nowhere else to turn. Her only option: to run.   
Jade jumped up, already on her way away from the grave. “Grab your shit, we’re goin on an adventure.”  
“I don’t have any shit, so I guess let’s go!” Heather hopped up from where she was. “Also, couldn’t help but hear, what exactly did you fuck up?” She had mostly gotten rid of her filter in most aspects since the whole dying incident, she didn’t have much use for it, not that she had much of one in the first place, but still.  
Jade’s face flushed bright red. She awkwardly scratched her neck as she spoke. “I may have sorta accidentally kinda yelled at my mom about her teen pregnancy with me….” Jade flinched, hoping not to get too much backlash from the ghost, not that there was much she could do about it though.   
Heather whistled a low note. “Wow, little harsh there, but alright. I’ve said shitty things as you can tell. Long as you eventually do something you’ll probably be fine. Might be something to talk about, but you don’t much seem like the type to talk about that stuff. Good luck, though?”  
Jade didn’t really answer, just jogged over to the 7-11, sliding into the parking lot. Luckily, there was a car, looked pretty old too, and Jade’s face lit up. “Bingo.” She quietly stalked up to the car, jiggled the handle, and slid into the driver’s seat. She fished around under the dashboard for a while, surfacing with a few wires. She looked over at the ghost. “This is gonna be fun.” She said with a smirk.  
Heather moved into the passenger’s seat, crossing one leg over the other. “See, I like your thinking and all, but you seem a little too experienced with this kind of thing… I’m gonna take a wild guess and say this isn’t your first time doing this?”  
Jade grinned with an insane glint in her eyes as she touched the wires together, the car roaring to life. “Not a chance.” She threw down the wires. “Buckle up, Buttercup, were goin for a drive.” She said, tearing out of the parking lot, not even noticing the furious owner in the background. Thankfully, he looked very high, so he’d probably forget about it by tomorrow morning.


	8. A Slight Setback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade has car trouble and Veronica panics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're v sorry we always forget to update!! Not sure what else to say, have a chapter!

Heather had found herself sitting on the hood of the car while Jade stood on the side of the road with her thumb sticking up. “Remind me why we’re not just trying to jumpstart the thing? What’re you even gonna do? I can’t pay for anything, all I have is a robe and I’m pretty sure that’s not physical, either.”  
Jade sighed. “I don’t know yet, I’ll figure it out when we get there.” She didn’t really sound very confident in her words, but what other plan was there?! She was a 14 year runaway who had stolen a car and was talking with a ghost. The other options didn’t sound too promising. Eventually, a kind woman pulled over and drove them to the nearest town.

The lady was really nice; she dropped them off at a small diner before heading home. On the drive she had talked about her own life, she had two twin girls named Fawn and Kailey. Jade was happy for a change of pace that didn’t make her want to shoot herself in the head, but Chandler was bored out of her mind.  
Heather Chandler’s boredom was almost never a good thing. She had gotten kind of bored, since the last of her attempts at distracting Jade were met with being ignored one she had gotten used to it, so the ghost decided to start taking up getting the attention of random people, then disappearing entirely. She was really quite the nice person.  
Jade sat in the booth, eating her biscuit, every once in awhile looking up to shoot confused and annoyed glances at Chandler. When the waitress came up with the bill, she finally seemed to notice that one of her only customers of the night was 14 years old.  
She carefully padded up to the table, cautious as to not frighten the girl. “Sorry to bother ya, sugar, but why are ya here all alone?”  
Heather saw Jade falter a little bit trying to think of an excuse and sighed. ‘This is what you get for not planning… Hm…’ And so, the red Heather decided to have a little fun. “I dunno, why are you?” The ghost moved herself behind the waitress, but she wasn’t exactly visible… Uh oh.  
The waitress shuddered as she felt the cold rush of blood and warm breath on her neck. She spun around to swat some creep away but found no one, and tried to ignore it.  
“I… u-uh...” Jude rushed to come up with an answer. “Got stood up by some guy…?” she lied, but her response sounded more like a question than an answer.  
The waitress decided not to press. “Okay, hon, get home soon. We’re closing soon and I don’t want your folks worryin’ about you…” Deciding to let it go for the time, the waitress walked away.  
Jade realized for the first time in three hours - ‘wait… my parents are probably freaking out…’ Jade’s response was not ‘Okay, let’s go home,’ but instead ‘Welp time to go another state!’  
Jade took her emergency cash out of her shoe and paid, leaving a drawing of a cat on one of the napkins. Or at least it looked like a drawing to Jade, while in all actuality, she had carved a cat into the napkin with a knife. The car she had arrived in was out of gas, so she had to hotwire another car. Once the car was started and Heather was in the car, she buckled her seatbelt and said “Next stop: DC” before hitting the gas and disappearing into the night.

\---

Back in Sherwood, Veronica was doing… Poorly. At first, she was upset, sure, but she knew Jade was safe! She assumed she was at Athena’s or something and decided to give her space. After two days of her being gone, she was getting a little unsure. But 3 days!? She had gotten past denying it and rushed right into panicking. Wonderful.  
On the third night, JD had decided that they needed to do something about it. He sat her down in the living room, her on the couch and him initially in the comfy chair next to the bookcase.  
He clasped his hands together. “We need to do something about Jade.”  
“Yeah…” She rubbed her temples with her elbows resting on her knees. “Do we call the police? File a report? Is it too soon for that? God…” She was trying to seem at least a little bit calm, but the clearly frantic tones in her voice gave it away. Not that it hadn’t been given away before, but yeah.  
He knelt down in front of her, putting a reassuring hand on her knee and looking up at her. “Veronica, worrying yourself to death won’t help us get Jade back.” He ran a hand through his tousled hair. “Look, I don’t think we could find her on our own, she’s probably not in Ohio anymore.” He saw her terrified expression. “As much as I hate to admit it, this is a job for the police, we can’t find her any other way.”  
Veronica nodded slowly. “Alright…” She moved one hand to his, squeezing it a little bit. She was, of course, worrying like hell, but it felt a little easier if she wasn’t doing it alone anymore. “Guess we should go talk to them, then..” She said, trying to reassure herself about it, or at the very least get her breath steady again.  
JD nodded solemnly. “Do you want to go to the station ourselves, or have an officer come here?” he asked, gesturing between the door and the phone with slight head movements. He knew she must be freaking out. After the bomb went off there must have been a lot of police work to be done….  
“If we can, I’d like one of them to come here…” Part of it was that they might be able to find out a little more about where she might be, but truthfully, even after 14 years, police stations- especially the local one made her nervous and uncomfortable, so that probably wouldn’t help her.  
He noticed her worried expression and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “This is going to work out, believe me.” He started to stand up. “I know it must be scary as hell, and the process might be a tad unpleasant, but it’ll work.” He stood up and looked away. “Well if not,” he turned to look at her, determination and compassion mixed in his expression, “we’ll make it work.” He quickly called into the station, arranging for an officer to come in about 30 minutes, and promptly returned to her side.  
She took a deep breath. “Right. It’s gonna work out.” Saying it out loud was to JD, yes, but it was partially just to repeat it to herself. Once he was back, she held onto him and waited. 

. . .

Jones. The most generic police name in the history of the universe, and their officer was named Jones. He was well kept, neat blond hair, blue eyes, lean build. He seemed fairly young, but he resonated a warm and calm vibe about him. He had shown up at precisely 9:14, and the only reason JD knew that was one his stress habits, a side effect of his medicine, was extreme focus on detail. The officer entered the home at 9:16, after exchange of pleasantries with JD at the doorstep. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Veronica starting to lock up, fear evident. He sat next to her, arm around her waist, as the officer talked.  
“So when did your daughter go missing?”  
“3 days ago. We kind of had an argument, I thought she went to a friend’s house to cool off, but she hasn’t come back…” She tried to keep herself calm and her words fluid. Her own nerves were starting to frustrate her. Almost everything was reassuring! She wasn’t alone, the officer seemed nice, they were starting to move forward, she would’ve thought that she should at least be relaxing a little bit, but she couldn’t help it. All she could do was try to stay focused and answer questions.  
He scribbled down some notes onto a notepad before looking back to the due. “Do you mind telling me what the argument was about? It may help us to understand how long she was planning to be away from home.” He took a seat in one of the armchairs. “Her normal stress habits may also be useful, as we might be able to indicate if this was a normal response.”  
“She stayed out late the night before then went out again, then she sort of… She brought up the time when I was pregnant with her, which was senior year.” She stayed in detail, but not every little bit. “She runs. When she’s in trouble she just kind of tries to leave, that’s why I wasn’t too worried at first, but she’s never been gone for so long before.” She chewed her lip a little after talking.  
His brow furrowed as he scribbled down more notes, nodding as she spoke. “How old did you say your daughter was?”  
JD decided to give Veronica a moment to recover and spoke in her place. “14.”  
Officer Jones’s eyes widened. “Jesus Christ! 14? She wouldn’t even be able to drive!” He fixed his hair, most likely a nervous tell, and closed his notebook. “Thank you for the information, we’ll set to work on finding her as soon as possible. I hope you have a wonderful night.” He said as he left.  
Wonderful? Wonderful my ass! JD was a bit irritated, masking it with his cool exterior. He knew the officer was just doing his job, but his insensitivity was making his blood boil. Veronica was upset enough as it was, he didn’t want anything to make it worse.  
He pulled her close to him, running his finger through his hair. “I’m sure she’s alright. She’s a smart kid, she’ll be back.”


	9. Fairy Godmother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade is Cinderella now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We updated less than a week after our last chapter! Yay!

Jade grinned from behind the wheel. “Welcome to Washington DC, Candle!”  
“It’s Chandler, kid!” Heather called from the backseat, where she was laying on her side and looking out the window. “What are we doing here, anyways? Like it’s cool and all but are you planning an assassination or something?”  
Jade smirked. “Not initially, but sounds like fun!” In truth, they were just gonna be in DC for a week or so, camp out in the Smithsonians, and visit some monuments, but assassination seemed pretty chill to her!  
“Oh wonderful!” Heather kept it going. “Hmm, so who should it be?” She was clearly joking because of her tone, the usual condescending drawl, but with just a hint of a playful tone.  
Jade rolled her eyes. “Aaaaanyyyyyyways, we stayin at Air and Space or Natural History?”  
They ended up going to Air and Space, which Jade loved, until closing, and then hid in the bathroom until lights were out and it was just them and the nightguard.   
The morning before, Jade and Chandler had stopped at a Walmart, which brought to her attention that she was on TV! As in the police were looking for her because she had disappeared. Jade grabbed their shit and ran, telling the cashier to keep the change.  
Jade sat on the carpet, chewing on a granola bar as she stared in awe at all the space stuff. Heather just watched and laughed.

\- - -

Heather McNamara had a biiiiit of a mission. She had been watching the news at home, and she saw a report stating that her goddaughter had gone missing. For 5 days. So, very calmly, Heather got into her car. Long story short, she kind of sort of used her training in CPS to track down where she was fairly sure Jade was, showed the night guard at Air and Space her badge with a short explanation, and started looking. Normal day.  
Jade’s head snapped in the direction of the noise,the clanking of keys and hushed voices. She heard a door, then light footsteps. Jade realized she didn’t have much time, and all of her escape routes were blocked. Chandler was yelling instructions and curses at her, but just continued. She just sat there dumbly, staring doe eyed at the entryway as the shadow moved through the hall.  
McNamara made her way into the room, just a little bit lit up by windows and such, but her yellow blazer was visible. “Jade? Are you in here?” Her tone was gentle and kind of quiet, not enough that she couldn’t be heard, but not exactly a usual inside voice.  
Jade snapped into consciousness, not processing where she was. Her mind in a haze, she tried to understand the situation. Why is there a buttercup in front of me? Who is this tomato ghost? Oooooooooh space! She got sidetracked and crawled over to the models of all of the Apollo missions, giving away her position.  
“Um… Jade? Are you alright?”   
“Fuckin’ hell, kid…”   
Both came from a Heather, and, unsurprisingly, the first one was from the yellow, and the second the red. Quite the contrast.  
She managed to tear her attention away from the display and looked between the two Heathers confused. After a while of looking back and forth, she turned to Chandler and exclaimed, “Wait, is this Macaroni?!”  
Heather Chandler sighed. No point in trying to hide anything now. She let McNamara see her, where she was kind of lazily lying on the floor. With utmost casualty, “Yeah, that’s her.”   
“Wait a second. Wait. Heather!?”   
“In the flesh! But not really.”   
Jade was still kinda confused about the three different Heathers, but she was working on it. Jade did know what Mac was doing there though, she lives back in Sherwood, 6 hours away.  
“Yeah, she’s dead and I kinda dragging her on an ‘adventure’.” Jade stated bluntly. Jade looked up at the yellow cinnamon roll and tilted her head. “Who are you anyways?”  
“Um, yes, I knew about both of those things… Sort of. I do know that you’ve been gone for five days.” The yellow Heather blinked in slight surprise, then nodded. “Right, right, the last time I saw you was when you were 5. I’m Heather… McNamara, I’m your godmother.”   
Jade stared at Heather, the living one that is. After a few minutes of gawking and opening and closing her mouth like a koi, she yelled “What the fuck?! Why do I keep finding out about all these unknown fucking parents?!”  
“I’m… Not sure I follow.” The non-ghostly Heather tilted her head in confusion. Unknown parents? There was Veronica, but she raised Jade, so she couldn’t be unknown… She vaguely knew that Jason Dean was the father, but he died as far as she knew. She was kind of lost.  
Jade jumped up and started pacing around, gesturing wildly. “Well just last week I was havin a normal parent teacher conference and then my teacher walks in and BOOM! My teacher’s my dad, who was supposedly dead for as long as I’ve been alive but NOPE! God it’s like one of those stupid reality tv shows, or a korean sitcom, Jesus Christ!”  
Heather Mac was kind of… Taken aback. She wasn’t sure if Jade was doing exactly the best mentally, so she wasn’t entirely sure, so she guessed she’d ask. “If you wouldn’t mind, what’s you teacher… Dad’s name?”  
Jade stopped for a moment. “JD, why do you a-” Sudden realization hit. “OoOoOoH that’s why mom froze up when I told her one of my kindergarten friends called me JD! Holy fuck how did I not realize that?!”   
The yellow Heather looked at Jade incredulously, her eyes wide and mouth open. Okay. Recount. So, one of her ‘best friends’ from highschool who died was a ghost, sidenote: ghosts were real, and Jason Dean survived!? It was a little much!  
Jade continued her loop back and forth from wall to wall. If she walked any faster, she’d wear tracks in the floor! Thankfully, Heather McNamara put two grounding hands on her shoulders, stopping her movement and her thoughts. Heather looked concerned. “We should head back home...please?”  
“To be honest, kid, she’s probably right. This little adventure has been fun and all, but I’ve seen how your mom can freak out. Home might be a good idea.” Heather Chandler added, still lounging on the ground.   
Jade looked away in shame and followed her to the car. The entire way home, Jade looked out the window in silence, despite Heather M’s attempts to break to silence.  
Heather Chandler looked on from the backseat, honestly a little bored. It was really quiet, but living in a cemetery, you kind of end up getting used to the quiet. In any case, she was still getting increasingly bored.


	10. Home Sweet... Awkward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jade comes home and Veronica tells a psychopath that she's the crazy one. Also, Jade goes to 7/11.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter was kinda short so we decided to post this one too. Two in one day!

A very tired Veronica stumbled over to the door, ready to be greeted by yet another police officer telling her that they were ‘working on it,’ but opened the door anyway just in case they found something…   
Instead she was greeted by Heather McNamara, her daughter, and the ghost of Heather Chandler. For a second, the was convinced she was hallucinating, but it was reduced to the background thought that she might be dreaming when she just barely refrained from literally jumping on Jade, and instead settled for hugging her.   
JD groggily rubbed his eyes, making his way over to the door. He opened his eyes, and remained the equally in the dark. It only occurred to him 10 seconds later that he realized that that was his daughter. He didn’t really know how to react to the situation, but was happy for Veronica at the very least. He stayed back though, letting Veronica have her moment.  
After a good minute or so, Veronica pulled back and cleared her throat. “I… Uh… Um… I’m glad you’re back.” Not awkward at all.   
Jade was bent over, trying to catch her breath. Jade felt really awkward, and didn’t really know how to talk to her mom after their argument. She shifted her weight from foot to foot to attempt to dampen her nervousness.  
“We… We can talk about what happened later, just… For now, go to bed, get a little sleep in if you can.” Veronica said, planning on talking to Heather- no, Heathers after.  
Jade sulked off, throwing the backpack she had gotten some random convenience store on the couch, and stomped up the stairs. When she got into her room, much to her dismay, there were locks on the window.  
Back downstairs, Veronica was leaning against the doorframe. “Thanks for bringing her back, Heather… M.” She then moved her gaze over to Heather Chandler. “And what, exactly are you doing here?”   
Heather C shrugged. “Dunno. She was in the graveyard and we went on a trip, I guess.”  
JD walked over to Veronica and put a hand on her shoulder. “You okay? There’s only Heather and I here…”  
“No, there’s also-” Veronica remembered that JD couldn’t see the dead Heather. “Nevermind. Thanks again, Heather, I’ll call you later.” She closed the door. “I’m… Gonna go back to bed.”  
He stopped her from escaping to the guest room. “You sure? That didn’t look like nothing to me.” he said pointedly, wanting answers.  
“Yeah, I’m just… Tired.” She replied, not exactly sounding casual, but not entirely giving herself away, either.  
JD smirked. “I don’t believe you.” he chuckled before frowning. “Come on, you know I’m smarter than that. What goin on?” He sat at the counter and watched.  
“You’re gonna think I’m crazy if I tell you.” She said. She was okay enough with telling him, she was just almost entirely sure that he wouldn’t believe her.   
He laughed, a genuine, hearty laugh that could rarely be evoked. “And you’re talking to a psychopath. I don’t think you can be crazier than that.” he retorted, crossing his arms.  
“... Alright, fine. Ever since… The first thing that happened, I’ve- I’ve kind of… Seen Heather. The red one. The dead one. She mostly went away when Jade started being able to talk, but just now… Yeah.” Veronica explained, still mostly sure she sounded like she was hallucinating, but she’d talk anyway.  
JD shrugged. “Well at least it’s not nightmares, those are the ones to look out for.” He shuddered slightly at his words. It was always the same one, the same blood, the same fragment of his broken heart.  
“Yeah… Those get pretty bad, too…” She mumbled, moving her hand on top of his and stayed quiet for a while. “Do you wanna go to bed or stay a little longer? I can do whichever.”  
He put a hand on the side of her face and rubbed her cheek. “You look pretty tired, at least there’s no work tomo...- later.” He let out a yawn and rested his forehead against hers. “And even if I can’t sleep, I’ll at least keep you company.”  
Veronica nodded. “Yeah, sounds good to me.” She mumbled, briefly pulling back to grab his arm and gently pull him towards the guest room. Her room was… Too far. Yeah, that was it. Just too far.

\- - - One week later - - - 

Why does everything feel better at night? Jade chuckled to herself as she sat on the roof of the 7-11. She took a sip of her slushie and skipped the song she was listening. Nah, I’m not up for 8 minutes of bitching about school, not wild college parties, definitely not listening to this song, ah here we go! Chill Your Skull, what a classic. Jade swayed to the beat, the cool night air breezing across her shoulders.  
Soon after, on the ground outside 7-11, was Simon. With a camera. He looked up at the bright sign, ready to get a shot… “Jade?” He wasn’t really expecting to see her, being that she was grounded, but he probably should’ve known something like that wouldn’t be holding her back.   
Jade saluted before jumping off the roof, strolling up to Simon and pulling down her headphones. “Whatcha doing out at a time like this?” she asked with a smirk.  
Simon may have flinched a little bit when Jade jumped down from the roof, partially in fear and partially ready to go try to catch her or help, but he calmed down a little when he saw that she was fine. “Getting some footage for another project. What about you?”  
Jade shrugged. “Who the fuck knows?! Definitely not me.” She pecked him on the cheek. “What’s the new project?” she inquired.   
“Skit sorta deal with people in convenience stores. Actual filming with the people starts tomorrow, but I wanted to get some of it done early.” He explained, moving an arm over her shoulders.  
Jade laughed and grinned widely. “You big nerd!”  
Simon raised an eyebrow. “Hmm?”  
Jade smiled. “You’re a nerd, but you’re my nerd.”  
“Guilty as charged.” He smiled and kissed her forehead with maybe a little more color in his cheeks, but mostly out of happiness.   
Jade followed Simon around, and eventually sat outside with him with her second slushie of the night.


	11. The Qualms of a Ghost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chandler is sick of her life and is bored as shit. Read it and weep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please please PLEASE read the chapter notes at the end! It has important information about the future of this fic!

"Get away from me you creeps or kick your ass so hard it'll make a black hole!" - Chandler at Ram and Kurt

"Jesus fucking Christ Veronica, you still have absolutely ZERO alcohol tolerance." - Chandler to a drunk Veronica

"Who the fuck. What the fuck. Where the fuck. When the fuck. Why the fuck. How the fuck. ARE YOU ALIVE!" - After finding out JD was alive

"So this asshole gets to live and I don't?!" - At JD

"Ugh, kill me now - OH WAIT! YOU ALREADY DID!" - At Veronica

"Jade you fucking idiot why the fuck did you fill the gas tank with lighter fluid!!!" - While taking a pit stop during her and Jade's adventure

 

 

 

Too tired, may add more later, sorry! TwT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Important news! We finally figured out an update schedule! We will be updating on monday nights! And if we can't, please don't hate us! We've had trouble with writer's block and schedules and stuff. Also! We have a plan for the rest of the fic, so be ready for that! This train wreck go on forever. Additionally, I hope you guys like Jade and her shenanigans, she was originally just a random concept. Also don't be afraid to comment! We don't bite! That's it! Thanks for being with us. Thief - out!


	12. The Invitation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica gets a letter. Jade rants about ducks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE REMEMBERED TO UPDATE WE'RE NOT TERRIBLE PEOPLE YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY

Veronica stretched as she stepped out to the mailbox, grabbing a couple envelopes and sorting through them as she walked over to the kitchen. One in particular, however, looked especially interesting. “Westerburg senior class of ‘89 reunion.” She read aloud. Well that was… That was certainly a thing. 

JD snuck up behind and hugged her, chin on her head as he read the envelope. “Good morning, sweetheart. Watcha got th…” Realization struck. Nope nope n o p e n o p e n o t h a p p e n i n g N O P E. He backed up quickly. He looked nervous, which threw a wrench in the normal atmosphere. “I’m supposed to be  _ dead _ .”

“Yeah, I can uh… I can see how that might be a bit of a setback here.” She said, for once not really having an idea of what to do. She hadn’t told  _ anyone _ JD was alive, hell, she didn’t even tell Martha! So yeah, him just kind of showing up wouldn’t be the best idea in the world.

His brow furrowed in thought, trying to come up with an idea. His most logical option was to not go. “I meaaaan,  _ you _ could go. I could just stay here and make sure Jade doesn’t set the house on fire.”

“I mean that’s a  _ possibility _ , but I’m not entirely sure you’d be doing a lot in the process of  _ preventing _ the fire.” Her tone was clearly playful, though there may have been a  _ little _ truth in what she was saying. Just a little.

Eventually, they called it a draw and just went to bed, forgetting about it until the day of. Veronica ended up going alone, leaving two pyromaniacs on their own at home. Never a good sign... 

Jade was in her room, pacing quietly in aggravation. Okay, maybe a better term would be loudly stomping around her room. Which happened to be on the second floor, so it was kind of audible throughout the entire house. No biggie. 

JD walked up the stairs, stopping outside Jade’s door and knocking a few time.

“Jade? Open the-open the door please.”

Jade -loudly- walked over to the door and opened it. “Whad’ya want?”

He leaned on the doorframe. “What’s with the pacing? You could raise the  _ dead _ with how loud it is.” He said a mixture of concern and amusement scrawled upon his face.

“Fuckin’  _ Ducks _ . Frickin. Whatever, I know you don’t care. Anyway, I was at the 7/11, minding my own business, when one of these Duck kids comes over and knocks my slushie outta my hand! I may have punched them, it’s kinda a blur.” She said, the volume of her voice was kind of all over the place, not that she was paying attention, it was all audible.

He raised an eyebrow, his normal smirk visible. “Ducks? You sure you’re not as insane as me?” He said jokingly, rather confused about what she meant. He knew that if someone knocked a slushie out of  _ his _ hands though, it would  _ not _ be a pretty sight.

“I can’t confirm or deny the insanity, but yeah, Ducks! Duckies? Dukes? I think it may have been Duke. Who cares, it’s somethin’ like that, all I know is that they’re all jerks. I haven’t met their mom, but I haven’t heard good on her either.” She said. She thought Heather Candle may have mentioned a Duck… She wasn’t sure if there was any relation. 

Lightbulb moment. Duck -  _ Duke _ . He stood up perfectly straight. “Oh that bitch is going to pay for what she’s done.” He growled, cracking his knuckles and glaring with the intensity of a thousand suns. She had the  _ nerve _ to kick Veronica while she was pregnant with Jade, and her little asshats were picking on  _ Jade _ ?! She’s gonna die- …. Or at least pay for her actions. That bitch.

Jade blinked slowly. “Wait, what? Now I’m lost. Which bitch? There are a few. Do you know any Duck-Dukes?” 

He seemed very focused on burning a hole through the wall with his eyes, but responded. “That bitch had the gall to kick your mom while she was still pregnant with you. God, it took all of my self control to rip her to shreds in that very instant.” His anger was frightening, but his words sincere, and oddly reassuring.

“The fuck!?” She stopped for a second. “Wait… This person… Was in you and Mom’s same year, right?”

He gave a hum of confirmation as he clenched and unclenched his fists before breaking his staring contest with the wall. “I’ve got an idea.” He said, grinning darkly.

“And that idea would be…? You’re not leaving me out of this one.” She said, just hoping that he didn’t mean murder. When she thought about it, that actually may not have been out of the question. Shit.

He started to walk around, gesturing wildly. “You know how your mom went to that high school reunion? I bet that Duke bitch is there. We should teach her a lesson, maybe kick  _ her _ in the stomach, see how  _ she _ likes it!”

“Okay, okay, cool, I’m down. How are we gonna get in there though? As far as mom knows, we’re both supposed to be here all night.” Jade pointed out.

JD tossed Jade a pair of aviators from his jacket pocket, donning a pair of his own. “Sneak in with the catering staff of course! And lookin like hell on wheels while we’re at it.” He smiled at his own inside joke. It was a reminder of when he first met Veronica, walking out with the Heathers. A total knockout. It was over before he even knew it had begun.

Jade grinned widely and put her own pair on. “Oh hell yeah!” She exclaimed. She wasn’t sure of the actual meaning of his wording, but it seemed like some kind of sentimental shit, so that was always cool.

 

 

The party had been going great. Some of her other classmates were so drunk that it was like they were soldiers in the civil war whose legs were going to be chopped off. Heather Duke had decided to hold the high school reunion at her gigantic mansion. Veronica didn’t like Heather Duke, but not as much as a few other people.

The caterers arrived, along with one extra worker in a trench coat and a very short security guard. The security guard snuck off into the surveillance room while the worker went around and served entrees to the guests, listening in on conversations.

One of said conversations was between Veronica and a certain green Heather. 

“So uh… About what happened around 15 years ago. Ya know, with you kicking me. When I was pregnant.” 

“I uh-” Duke wasn’t able to respond, cut off by a voice over the intercom, - Which she only had because the house was so damn big - A voice that, to Veronica, may have sounded a  _ little _ familiar.

“Heather Duckke- I mean Duke,” the voice began normally. The speaker grinned maniacally. “ _ I lived, bitch _ .” Duke went deathly white and excused herself from the room.

Veronica’s head snapped up. Caterer in a trenchcoat? Oddly short security guard earlier? FUCK. “JADE!?” She yelled, and off she went to try and find where the security room was.

After Duke returned to the fray, JD set his platter down and he walked up to her. Duke was about to say something to break the silence but was interrupted by a sharp kick to the stomach. “How does it feel,  _ Duck _ ?” he said, sneering and glaring daggers into her soul. Duke couldn’t make out words, so he kicked her again. He was going to keep kicking her until she passed out or said something, but Jade ran into the room, grabbing his arm and dragging him out out of the house.

She looked mildly angry at the interrupting. “What the hell, Jade, what’s going-”

“I predict we have about 5 seconds to get out of here or we are  _ dead _ .” she hissed.

“What? Oh yeah. OH YEAH. Time to run.”

They didn’t get very far though, Veronica stormed out of the house, Heather McNamara hot on her heels.

“Nice try,  _ Jade _ , I know that was you on the intercom.”   
JD kissed Veronica, hoping it would get him in a  _ little _ less trouble, but to no avail. 

She deadpanned. “I will deal with  _ you _ later.”

JD had to actively work to bite back a cocky grin and a ‘that doesn’t sound so bad’ for everyone’s sake at the moment… It wasn’t especially bad but situationally maybe it wasn’t the best thing to say. 

Meanwhile, Jade  _ thought _ she was in the clear since she bribed the actual guard. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!” 

Veronica put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot in an annoyed manner. “Considering what  _ else _ you’ve done recently, bribing a guard doesn’t seem to hold a candle, but that doesn’t make it okay!” She ended up pacing back and forth, frustrated and overheating in the hot midsummer’s air. 

Jade was torn between hightailing it out of there and looking away sheepishly. Instead, her subconscious decided to channel it’s inner bitch. Jade stared directly into her mother’s eyes, ice in her gaze. Veronica’s concentration was ripped from her as she unconsciously accepted the challenge. Backing down would be another fight lost and even  _ more _ doubt and frustration.

JD decided to stay quiet for the moment, he thought it might not be the time to say something… 

… Heather Mac, on the other hand, was getting uncomfortable, almost desperate to break the ice. “Um… Maybe we should… Go?” So maybe it was a little awkward, but it dispersed just a  _ little bit _ of the thick tension in the air. She cared for all of them, though still shaken that when she thought she had seen JD in Veronica’s doorway, someone who was supposed to be dead that she was right, Heather tried to keep her composure.

Veronica was forced to look away and she walked up to JD as Jade walked up to the motorbike, putting on a helmet. At least she knew to do  _ that _ . “ _ Don’t get her killed _ ,” she hissed as she pushed away from him towards Heather Mac and her car.

 


	13. The Muffin Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JD and Veronica talk things out, then Jade and Simon get found out. Also Muffin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooo..... Funny story, life got in the way of posting, then writer's block hit us like a train! So now we return to your regularly scheduled fanfic! We're really sorry!

Veronica waved to Heather from outside the car, thanking her for the ride home before she walked back inside, not bothering to really acknowledge JD or Jade as she went straight upstairs to her room. Oh yeah. Silent treatment. Classy as fuck.  
As soon as Jade had gotten home, she bolted up the stairs and hadn’t been seen since, so that left JD to try not to go insane before Veronica got home. When he realized that she wasn’t talking to her, he started to panic, the dark fog creeping into the cracks in his mind. He reminded himself to breathe, and walked up the stairs to Veronica’s room. Jade, meanwhile, had heard his footsteps, and instinctively put on her headphones. Thin walls.  
The door was locked, as he had guessed, so he knocked quietly. “Veronica? Can you open the door?”  
The only response he got was a muffled “Why?” from Veronica. On her side of the door, she was face-down on the bed. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t feel a little bad about being so cold, but she was mad! She was gonna open back up at some point, she just didn’t quite know when.  
He leaned his forehead against the door, obviously distressed. “I don’t want to fight anymore. And I know you’re scared, but I can help you. You could be free from all the stress! Won’t you just open the door?”  
This conversation was… Too familiar for comfort. She knew he was past all the stuff by that point, but it was still just weirdly similar. She did, in fact, have a heart though, so she stumbled over to the door and slowly opened it.  
A wave of relief washed over him, but a pang of guilt hit him as he saw her bitter face. He knew if he said the wrong thing, he’d be left with a locked door and an aching heart. “Hey…” he said, reaching up and rubbing small circles on the side of her face.  
Veronica glanced to the side, holding onto his forearm gently, but not trying to push it away from her face. “Yeah, hi…” She sighed. “What was that?” Her tone was admittedly a little accusing, but not undeservingly so.  
He looked away. It wasn’t his fault that Duke did that to her! He was just repaying the favour and Jade had hitched along. “It’s nothing big, I guess I’m just still bitter about some stuff that bitch did.” Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her sulk, so he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “I’m sorry, darlin, I didn’t mean to scare you.”  
“I don’t really have it in me right now to argue about the ‘nothing big’ part, that can wait.” Veronica said, not really being able to fight a tiny smile. “So… Do you like… Wanna stay up here?” At that point, she was just tired, she wanted sleep, and in the short time he had been back, she had become accustomed to JD being there when she slept. Oops.  
He chuckled softly, leading her to her bed and closing the door. Fortunately for Jade, it was a fairly quiet night.

\- A few days later - 

Simon looked across the table at Jade, not paying a whole lot of attention to his food. Normally, when Jade came over she kind of had to stay in his room, probably at least partially because his grandparents, also known as Ms. Fleming and the school’s Principal, probably wouldn’t take too kindly to a girl in the house late into the night and/or morning. He may or may not have been not telling them for a while, and he didn’t plan to soon, but it was probably fine for them to be in the dining room, his grandparents weren’t supposed to be back until later… If he remembered correctly, that is.   
Jade, meanwhile, was attempting to, the best she could, eat the chow mein she had ordered. When it came to most things, she had the dexterity of a raccoon who had just had 3 energy drinks, but currently, she felt like one of those ball pythons with a puppy mouth. After the noodles once again fell off of her chopsticks, she finally managed to pick a few noodles successfully, although, the moment was short lived due to the following events. Simon’s cat Muffin, an adorable Ragdoll cat who absolutely LOVED Jade, jumped up onto the table to greet Jade. This however, caused her to lose her laser like focus, which resulted in her and the cat covered in noodles.  
Simon, after a moment of surprised silence, started to crack and put a hand over his mouth to try and keep from laughing, but he was kind of failing.   
Things stopped being so funny when his grandparents opened the front door to see their son and Jade, just a bit of a problem student at the table. With Jade and the cat covered in noodles.   
“Hello, Simon… Miss Sawyer!?”   
“RIP.” Wow. Great job, Simon. Great communication skills.   
Jade glared angrily. “Robert,” she hissed shooting daggers into the eyes of her newly recognized nemesis. Muffin paid no mind to the situation, and started nibbling at the noodles in Jade’s lap. Simon had started to tear up, and was having a little trouble breathing.  
“May I ask what exactly you’re doing here?” The man asked through gritted teeth, clearly seething over quite a few things. A) His… Ahem, problem student was in his dining room, B) It was starting to become a possibility in his mind that his grandson and said problem student were... (cAnOoDlInG) involved with one another, and C) She called him by his first name. Very disrespectful! Jade wasn’t entirely known to be the respectful type, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it.  
Jade gave an ice cold smile, glaring at her boyfriend’s… parent? She wrapped an arm around Simon’s waist as she spoke, earning her questioning glance from Simon. “Well, Robert, my boyfriend invited me to stay for dinner! Isn’t that right Simon?” She gave a quick squeeze, silently signalling for Simon to play along.  
‘Pff. Insert air horn noise he- FUCKWHATSHAPPENINGSENDHELP’ There couldn’t have been a better time for Muffin to have interrupted Simon’s thoughts by batting an air horn off the counter. “Uh… I needed that for a movie……. Moving on, yeah, I totally invited her!”   
Robert raised an eyebrow in something of a half glare. “I see.” It was very clear that he was speaking through gritted teeth, and while he didn’t want to limit what Simon did since he knew it would only cause him to act out more, he just kind of thought there were… Better choices.  
A light bulb flashed above her head as an idea jumped into her brain. She smirked as she got ready to put the plan into action. “Well that was a lovely dinner, but Simon and I are going to head upstairs and have some… fun.” Jade gave a toothy grin, nearly dragging Simon up the stairs. Simon stopped her on the second floor landing. “Jade, what are you doing?” She gave a cheshire cat like smile as she quieted him. “Shhhh, you’ll see.”  
Robert looked, easiest to say, horrified. “Don’t they seem a little young for that??”   
Pauline shrugged, smiling a little. “Ah, young love…” She said airily as Robert shook his head. He really didn’t know what to do, or even whether he should actually take Jade seriously or not! Ugh. He kind of wanted to wait, but he also didn’t even want to know.

A little bit later, Mr. Gowan heard some… not so kid friendly sounds coming from his grandson’s room. The bed frame was banging against the wall, loud cursing, whining… All signs pointed to Simon and… Jade… fucking. As a father figure to Simon, this sent the principal into a bit of a tailspin, debating what to do. Should he wait it out? Barge in? Or maybe he should send his wife in there? At this point, he was stuck with his hands tied, and he was getting a headache.  
He decided to take initiative and go in, whatever was going on, he didn’t want it to be happening. He swung open the door, only taking slight notice to the fact that it was unlocked to see…   
Simon and Jade. Sitting on the floor. Playing Mario Kart.   
“...Oh.”


	14. 7/11 AKA Drive-Through Chapel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The title is semi explanatory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so you know how we're really bad at keeping to a schedule? Weeeellllll here's a really short but fun chapter!

JD and Veronica pulled up to the familiar convenience store, the slightly faded 7 still shining proudly. JD jumped off the bike, taking Veronica with him as he made his way inside. He ran off somewhere in the store, leaving Veronica to amble around as he got his daily dose of slushies.  
Veronica leaned up against a wall, glancing around while she waited for him to finish when she heard a voice. “Y’know, coming to the exact same 7/11 for almost 30 years isn’t really a suuuper normal thing to do, most people would’ve gotten outta here by now, but I guess the same applies for working here, so carry on.” It took a second to figure out, she’d never actually really noticed that every time she’d gone to this 7/11, it was the same cashier. She didn’t really know how to respond, so she just sort of nodded and slowly walked into an aisle to find JD. Totally not awkward.  
As JD was walking towards the cashier through the candy aisle, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Spontaneously, he snatched it, preparing himself to enact a clever plan. JD spotted Veronica, got down on one knee, and brandished the ring pop. “Roses are red, violets are blue, would you do me the honor and be my player two?”  
“Well of course I will, my good sir!” Veronica said through suppressed giggles. She didn’t find the situation particularly funny, it was just that somehow, even through all the years, JD still managed to find ways to get her even a little flustered. In the most unceremonious and un-traditional way, she knelt on the floor and kissed him. (Holy shit Veronica that was actually a little smooth how)  
The now 40 something year old goth chick scoffed “You may now kiss the bride.” She had already rung up all their items. “That’ll be 5 dollars.” JD tossed a five dollar bill on the counter and walked out with Veronica, hand in hand.

\- - - 

Jade walked into the house to the sound of her parents… Arguing?  
“Blue makes the most sense!”  
“But a grey wall would go so much nicer with the dark wood floors!”  
“No, that would make the whole room dark!”  
Fighting about what color to paint the living room walls, and even with their own signature colors. Absolutely genius. 

Jade groaned, dumping her backpack on the floor. “Ugh, you sound like an old married couple.” She stomped up the stairs, slamming the door. The bass of her music could be heard from downstairs, which couldn’t have been healthy for her.  
While JD was vaguely concerned about ear damage, Veronica stopped.  
“Wait - did we ever get married?!”  
“...Isn’t that gonna fuck up her ears or something?”  
“JD! Seriously!”  
“.....Does the time in the 7/11 count?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You thought I was kidding when I said short? LMAO NO -Potato


	15. Moving On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AhHhHhH the finale is almost here! Don't worry, we'll be making a collection of short anecdotes later. Enjoy!

The boxes were stacked at the door, ready for her to grab them and start her new life. She was ready. She had Muffin and the mittens and Simon. Veronica was torn up. JD on the other hand, knew that it was something she needed to do. Accepting and fatherly, JD nodded with approval.  
Jade hugged her mother, trying to be reassuring. "Hey, we're not moving too far! We can always visit." Normally she'd jump at the opportunity of freedom, but she'd never gone far permanently. It wasn't really a bad thing to her, just new, but how upsetting the whole goodbye seemed to be for Veronica was weighing a bit on her. That was another thing, on her little 'adventures' she didn't really say much in the way of goodbyes.  
Veronica knew she needed to let go of her daughter, even though it hurt tremendously. She couldn’t chain her daughter’s wild spirit to one place. She needed to be free. Wiping away her tears, she gave Jade one last hug and settled into JD’s arms for comfort. Remembering her experience moving home, running away from the death of her toxic boyfriend, her time in the mental hospital, her parents finally seeing her for who she was. It was...overwhelming, but to get better, she knew things needed to hurt. JD rubbed her back comfortingly as Jade walked up to her boyfriend car, Simon waiting inside. He gave her a peck on the cheek and started the engine as Jade put the boxes in the trunk.  
Jade’s heart felt heavy, but it was time. She knew Veronica would survive, especially next to her healing husband. Both of them had healed, a lot, and partially thanks to her. She brought them back together, mending each of their broken parts like lock and key. She knew that they were healthier now, and could continue to heal together, even without her by their side. She slid into the passenger seat and looked at Simon with doe eyes. Tears pricked at her eyes as she was flooded with emotion.  
Simon had actually barely seen Jade like this. Maybe once or twice, but it was rare for her to cry, let alone in a way anyone could see. He leaned over the empty cup holder to squeeze her shoulders with his arm. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay, you know it is. It’s hard now but it’s for the best, I promise.” He said, trying to be soothing and glad that he hadn’t started driving, this was more important.   
He wiped away her tears and Jade nodded, ready to leave. As they pulled out of the driveway, Jade waved, saying goodbye to her (kinda) childhood home. And with that she knew, today was gonna be a good day.


	16. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looking back at my house of memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We really sorry it's short but took us so much time! There's some stuff in the author's note if you guys don't mind checking it out! It's been one hell of a ride, so thanks for bearing with us. Love ya!

After a short drive, Jade ended up in the driveway of her old house. Her parents were retired and the house was more or less hers, so she decided to check it out and decide what to do with it. She'd only really been there on visits recently, so she didn't know what they may have changed by that point. She wasn't going to lie, she was kind of excited, so in she went!

In the dusty room, everything was exactly as they left it. Their two chairs next to each other, two very different cups on the counter. They still owned the house, well, now she did. She sighed. It had been a long run. She made her way up the stairs, dust clouding around her feet.

Out of curiosity, Jade entered her parents’ bedroom and looked under the bed. Under it was a box. What could that be?

She pulled the box out from under the bed, expecting a photo album or something of that nature. She opened it up to find… Window locks. More than she could even count. What… The fuck? Like honestly Veronica, what the fuck? She sat down on the floor, mildly having an existential crisis. She dug through the box, finding a diary. Well, a few of them. How long had she been writing in them for? She started reading.

_September 1, 1986._

_Dear Diary,_

_Today’s the first day of eighth grade. God I just wanna be in high school already._

She flipped through the pages.

_November 18, 1986._

_June 13, 1987._

_August 27, 1988._

 

She dropped the first book, picking up the third one. She opened the dusty pages of the blue diary.

_September 1, 1989._

_Dear diary,_

_I like to believe I’m a good person, I mean, I like to believe there’s good in all of us but, here we are! First day of senior year! And I look around at these people I’ve known all my life and I think, what happened._

 

The pages went on to describe different people in her grade at the time, a few of which had become familiar to Jade. The Heathers, (ew a duck) Martha, (Athena’s mom) even later on a mention of JD fighting two football players. A lot of ‘holy shit’ in that one. Skipping ahead, she talked about a party and-

 

_September 24th, 1989_

 

_I was in JD’s room last nigh-_

 

Nope. Not doing that.

  


Then as she read on, it got a little more… exciting to say the least. Jade’s brows furrowed as she continued. She knew Candle was dead but… her parents killed her? She skipped a few pages ahead. And those two creepy jocks that sometimes show up? She dropped the book. Her parents were murderers. And there was nothing she could do about it.

She realized that the red Heather AKA Candle had told her that before but… She didn’t really want to believe it, and she knew… Well, at least she thought that her parents hadn’t killed anyone else, but it was hard to read Veronica admitting it for herself. Moving on from there, her mother’s writing got a little further spaced out until a little while after, but from what she did read, things sort of went downhill until the… Bomb incident. Her parents had never really told her in detail what happened, but she had sort of pieced it together. Even so, reading her mother’s thoughts about it at the time was rough.

The woman closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in. It was a lot to take in for anyone, but especially for her. An thought penetrated the wall around her heart. _What if it had been her and Simon?_ Jade shook her head. She decided it was time to head home. As she gathered her things she looked back to the box. In a split second decision she took the box, throwing it in her trunk. Maybe she’d give it to her mom. She gave a sad smile and closed the door, bringing an end to their story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for going on this journey with us! We're sorry it was such a long wait, we just didn't know where to go with it, and school got the better of us. We love this story, and truly hoped you enjoyed it. Keep an eye out for some possible little mini fics in this universe! We love you all!  
> Oh! Also! We're making a discord server for Benadryl (and some secret other stuff)! Hope you guys check it out, even for like a minute or two. You can chat with us (and pester us to write)! The link will be set to never expire, unless the server is deleted. Again, love you all!  
> Also! Benadryl is almost a year old! We came up with this idea on New Years Eve, and it's come such a long way. It took us forever to write, and longer to post, but it's here. Our baby is all grown up! ANyways, I guess that's a thing, love you all!
> 
> https://discord.gg/mWZgPXy


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